[NoChanceToDance]

From RP......

by Rodney Masters
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THE odds-on Kauto Star will face a maximum of seven rivals on Wednesday in his bid for back-to-back wins in the King George VI Chase, and his opposition will include a markedly sharper My Way De Solzen than the one he thrashed at Haydock five weeks earlier.

A 13-2 chance with race sponsor Stan James, My Way De Solzen has logged plenty of work at Barbury Castle since his distant sighting of Kauto Star in the Betfair Chase, and according to trainer Alan King there should be no excuse on the fitness front when they meet again in the Boxing Day feature.

The dual Cheltenham Festival winner blew for 35 minutes after his defeat at Haydock, and King blamed himself for leaving the seven-year-old short of work prior to that first run of the season.

“Since Haydock, he worked on the following Wednesday and has worked twice a week since then, and he'll work again on Saturday,” King said on Thursday.

”I'm very happy with him, he has done a lot of work since Haydock and he'll be straighter. If the weather forecast is right, he'll have a school on Monday.”

If all eight entries make the final line-up, it will be the smallest field for the King George since Florida Pearl beat seven rivals in 2001. Over the past 20 years, the race has attracted a double figure field on five occasions. Five runners went to post in 1988 and 1996.

Ollie Magern, who was last of the seven finishers behind Kauto Star last year, will be an absentee.
Nigel Twiston-Davies said the Charlie Hall Chase winner had undergone a bone scan. “He's still in work but obviously when a horse has a bone scan they're not going to be running for a while, and so Boxing Day is out of the equation.”

David Pipe's Our Vic, a 25-1 chance with the sponsors, is set to make his first appearance since finishing a well-beaten third to Exotic Dancer at Aintree's Grand National meeting. The trainer appreciates the enormity of the task awaiting Our Vic, and said yesterday it was probably the nine-year-old's toughest challenge.

“As everybody knows, these good horses have very few options. With him having had a slight setback earlier in the year our hand was forced somewhat. He may seem to have been around for ages but he is only nine, going on ten, and he still has come good races in him. Our Vic can be a bit in and out sometimes but like we always say, we wouldn't mind a few more like him.”

Hi Cloy, a 66-1 chance trained by Michael Hourigan, is the sole entry from Ireland, but he has an alternative option at home. Hourigan said on Thursday.

“We haven't decided whether he goes to Kempton or to Leopardstown for the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase on Thursday. They are both hotraces. I'll probably make up my mind tomorrow.”

Also a 66-1 shot is the Evan Williams-trained Lord Jay Jay, a front-runner who returned from a tendon injury to win at Ascot last month.